Tag Archives: Seattle Mariners

John Sickels on Minor League Ball featured Travis d’Arnaud as his Prospect of the Day and pointed out how steadily his throwing has improved as evidenced by increasing caught-stealing percentages since turning pro. So for those of you worried about those three stolen bases against him this weekend, don’t go jumping to any conclusions, and it was not like the pitcher’s didn’t play a part in it.

Here is what he had to say regarding D’Arnaud’s bat and projectability:

Offensively, his best tool is power. He was rather impatient early in his career but has made progress with the strike zone. He looked dramatically improved in that department for Vegas this spring and summer, when he wasn’t hurt anyway. His power usually comes when he pulls the ball, although he is more willing to take something the opposite way than he was earlier in his career.

I don’t see him as a .300 hitter at the major league level, but he should be good for a solid .250-.270 range, with an adequate OBP and better-than-average power. He could exceed those projections in his peak seasons.

Back in February, I wrote a Prospect Smackdown article comparing d’Arnaud with Mike Zunino of the Seattle Mariners, who is d’Arnaud’s primary competition as the top catching prospect in baseball. I concluded that I preferred Zunino very slightly because he was two years younger. Zunino has had his own set of problems this year. Catchers get hurt a lot and they often don’t have linear development curves.

Although I don’t see him in the Buster Posey or Joe Mauer class of superstar catcher, d’Arnaud produces quality play on both sides of the ball. If he can avoid getting hurt too often, d’Arnaud will be a fixture in the Mets lineup for years to come.

By the way, despite an report yesterday that the Mets will be keeping d’Arnaud once John Buck returns on Tuesday, the team says they haven’t made an official determination about that yet and it’s still up for debate.

Fredi Gonzalez is the new manager of the Atlanta Braves, which didn’t take long. Eric Wedge is the manager of the Seattle Mariners.

Meanwhile, the Mets are still waiting to name their new general manager. They have a few more candidates to speak with, notably Jon Daniels of the Texas Rangers once their playoff run is done. After watching them lose last night, you wonder how long that will be.

There will also be a second round of interviews with the finalists, so, we’re talking at least another 10 days. If they are lucky, it will be before the World Series. But, it could drag into November if the Rangers regroup and reach the World Series.

The high-profile managerial candidates could be gone by then, but that’s the risk the Wilpons took in deciding this route. And, it is a good route. The GM should name his own manager. That’s the prudent, sound way to go.

After years of the quick fix, I’m glad to see the Mets go through a complete interview process and get this done the right way as the general manager is far more important in the construction of a team than the manager.

I’m throwing this out there for you to mull over, much like Omar Minaya will be asked to do in the upcoming weeks.

PAGAN: Teams like him.

Other teams aren’t stupid, they see what is going on with the Mets rotation and in their outfield. They see, like most of us here, that the rotation, although going well now is not a sure thing. We don’t know how long Hisanori Takahashi and RA Dickey will continue this run. They also have no interest in sending a veteran pitcher to the Mets for the likes of John Maine and Oliver Perez.

The Seattle Mariners are on record for saying they want major league ready hitters; players they can immediately plug into their lineup.

The Mets have precious few of those to offer, but there is one whose trade value is high. Don’t think about Carlos Beltran. With his injury history and salary, he’s not going anywhere.

There have been few players that could spin a quote like Rickey Henderson. A lot of times Henderson would be asked a question and ten minutes later he would complete his answer. However, there are other times when he would just nail it.

Like this one.

HENDERSON: One of a kind.

“I’m a legend. People aren’t going to forget about me. I mean, when people forget about me, baseball is over. I rewrote the book.’’ – Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson on his favorite topic, which, of course, is Rickey Henderson.

Despite being one of the greatest players of his era, Henderson made the rounds, playing for nine franchises, including four different stints with the Oakland Athletics, and two with San Diego.